Online Communities Examiner - Virtual Worlds Aren’t Just for Grownups

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POSTED May 7, 2:42 PM

If you have a child under the age of 13, you probably already know about a half-dozen virtual worlds aimed directly at kids.

When my daughter was in preschool, she and I spent a lot of time on the Playhouse Disney site, and we watched as it morphed from a frames-style conventional website to a navigable land of exploration.

Now that she’s 8 years old, her expectations of the virtual world user experience have matured a bit.

The most insidious of the lot, and possibly the most visionary, is WebKinz, which requires you to purchase a plush toy in order to get a special code that unlocks the doors to a persistent world of cute little animals. My daughter has 30+ of these toys now, meaning she has the run of the place. She plays games to earn points that she can use to outfit her pets and their homes.

The granddaddy of this virtual online creature craze is Neopets, which started out 100% virtual, but now sells its own line of toys. My daughter loves spending time “buying” crap for her online pets.

Also-rans using the same model include VIP pets, Bratz, and many others.

Nickelodeon has a very fun world to explore, but my absolute favorite is Poptropica. The interface is whimsical and intuitive, the characters and adventures are incredibly compelling, and even the product placement (play areas sponsored by name brands) adds value to the user experience. In one example, the kids were able to get their very own branded space suits, complete with jet packs. The good news is that, because her father is so hypersensitive to marketing, so is my daughter. Even in the midst of picking up a consumer-branded propeller cap for her character, she knew she was being delivered a message. Do yourself a favor and check it out for yourself. It's addictive AND educational.

Less commercial, but almost as addictive, is Club Penguin, which my daughter used to play constantly. Her interest has waned, but investor interest in virtual worlds for kids has not. These virtual worlds are entry-level social networks for the post-Millennial set, and it’s interesting to see the varying levels of identity-exposure that are possible. All are great tools for teaching youth about internet safety before they’re old enough for Facebook pages.

I once told my daughter that she would buy a plush piece of poo, if it meant online access, and she turned that comment into her own virtual world concept. She’s working on concept art and a site map, so I promised to put her spec home page online, and start lining up some development help through my company's network. Her classmates are already asking when they can join.

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Eric Elkins
Eric Elkins has an online connection addiction. Good thing his job is harnessing social media strategies to help his clients engage consumers. Read along as Eric explores the latest developments in online community building.